User blog:Cleptomanx/FACE or HEEL? WILD EDITION
Congrats for making it through this epic journey into the murky depths of The Muscle Hustle. You've spun the color wheel, cleared the table, and finally ended up looking for the skinny on the thinnest slice of this beefy pie. In this final installment of FACE OR HEEL I'll be your trusty sherpa, guiding you through the untamed territory of the WILD. ---- JOBBERS ---- (Face)]] (Heel)]] As of this writing, Escorpion is the newest, shiniest Jobber on the block. As part of the 1.6 update, this fiercely patriotic bad boy flashed onto the scene as La Calavera Catrina's sidekick, but quickly showed he was nobody's second banana. The question of face or heel turns on the question of Bully or Underdog. While there are many fierce lightweight wrestlers around, you're likely gonna get the most trouble from the heavies, so by a thin margin... WINNER: HEEL ---- (Face)]] (Heel)]] Ah Frank Gant, the humble first step we take into the game. He holds your hand through the tutorial phase of the game start and makes you feel like everything's gonna be okay. Sadly, it's not long before most leave him and his little birdy in the rearview mirror, speeding off in something more sleek and powerful. His face has Hide which I always thought was a move specifically added to the game in order to frustrate your fast fling attempts on certain boards. How annoying is it to see an opponent dart outside the ring and you have to just sit around twiddling your thumbs until they come back? On the other hand Combo Bump is arguably one of the strongest abilities in the game. Don't reward cowardice, Hustlers! WINNER: HEEL ---- (Face)]] (Heel)]] Nothing says Wild, or wild bachelor party, like Leopard Skin. This athlete is fierce and was a sensation when she came out since she was (and still is) the only female Jobber piercer in the game. But, sadly it was discovered quickly that she was somewhat hamstrung. Piercers in the game tend to have very good range, but this was not the case for Leopardess, as her speed is similar to many of the medium or heavyweight champs around. Why is that important? Well, I'll tell you, it's because her face has Healer and her heel has Sadist. Therefore, range plays a big role in this decision (and take note of this anytime you have to choose between Healer and Sadist). While Sadist can be a very good ability, especially for a piercer who can slice through opponents several times, it relies on being able to get a lot of hits to work well, even with higher attack power. On the other hand, Healer isn't super effective, BUT it does allow for good support in your overall team and Leopardess' poor range doesn't affect that at all. WINNER: FACE ---- (Face]] (Heel)]] The Boozie Bandit. The Sloshy Slammer. The Drunken Dynamo! Whatever you'd like to call him, White Lightning can create a party wherever he goes with that giant growler of moonshine he totes around. It's no wonder that the choice between his face or heel comes down to what kind of pain he can't really feel. Catcher vs Taunt is basically saying he can barely feel a body falling on him or a debilitating bag of sand to the head. Trust me, when choosing protection from a body or a bag, choose the former to keep you out of a bodybag (can you tell I was buzzed a bit when writing this one?) WINNER: FACE ---- PROS ---- (Face)]] (Heel)]] Do you get that spindly-legged creepy crawly sensation on the back of your neck when Anna hits the ring? No? Must be just me. Let's go into what AWESOME about this wrestler... nope, got nothing. Her stats are well balanced, but there's really nothing going on with her that screams, "Use ME!" Her face has Catcher and Healer while her heel has Taunt and Healing Prevention. Healing Prevention is the ability that stands out on this list because it can be extremely useful against Endurance which gets difficult to deal with at times. If you go with Anna, then... WINNER: HEEL ---- (Face)]] (Heel)]] If you pull up feeling all high and mighty, chest puffed out, draped in your dressiest crocodile slung over your shoulders, be prepared to walk away in shame. It's a sure thing that Bushmaster will laugh heartily and send you packin'. When it comes to face Resist Cheat and Thick Skin or heel Hold Your Horses and Crowd Slayer it can be a tough choice. Thick skin is a very good ability that can make your tanky wrestlers fat more tanky with damage resistance, but Bushmaster doesn't really have the health to make this strategy pay off as well as using the ability on other champs. On the other hand Hold Your Horse and Crowd Slayer are both quite excellent abilities as the former can really cripple opponents who depend on their cooldown abilities and the latter is a powerful buff when you're outnumbered in the ring. Taking general stats into the mix, Bushmaster is a slower wrestler, but he does pack a good punch, so having an offensive boost (plus a debilitating bonus) over just a defense boost wins in my book. WINNER: HEEL ---- (Face)]] (Heel)]] She flies through the air with the greatest of ease, you'd think she attacked from a flying trapeze, her movements are graceful, deadly, clean, as she topples big heavies all day. As you may have guessed from that little diddy, Grace's face truly shines in this versus as she's packing Combo Bump AND Underdog. Her stats are shockingly even, so she doesn't have any specific advantages of strength, speed, or health, BUT her light/lightweight status makes her bounce madly off any lumbering heavyweight opponents in the ring, dealing ever increasing damage with Combo Bump working its magic AND a double buff if you've got a heavy weight standing in her path. Her heel has Hypeman which is a good ability in its own right, but in this case... WINNER: FACE ---- (Face)]] (Heel)]] This burly Scotsman doesn't just handle big wood... erm, what I meant to say, is he doesn't just manhandle large shafts of... He doesn't just (ugh). LOOK, what I'm trying to say is, he can be as much of a massive protective tree as the giant logs he lobs around. (phew) When you look at his stats it really jumps out that this wrestler is built for one purpose, to keep the rest of your team alive. His health is massive while his attack is just "eh" and his range is "oops, I just tripped over myself trying to take a step." Having this in mind we have to weigh his face's Taunt and Endurance against his heel's Catcher and Thick Skin. Taunt vs Catcher is usually a no-brainer as you are open to a lot more damage from an aerial (or double, or triple aerial) than from a flying sandbag. Sandbags can be deadly but don't compound by all targeting the same wrestler at the same time like aerials do. Which leaves Thick Skin vs Endurance. Thick skin is a set amount of damage reduction that activates "each" strike, so if Loglobber gets hit 1 time or 20 times, it's always going to activate each time leading to some massive reduction if you accumulate the 110 damage reduction at max level. On the other hand, Endurance can be excellent for a wrestler with high health. This ability at max can easily give over 1000 health to a wrestler that has 15k plus total health, BUT the big catch is that Endurance only activates during the wrestler's turn, not during EVERY wrestler's turn, meaning while Loglobber is waiting for 5 (or more) other wrestlers to go he's taking hits and losing much of that precious 1000 health he gained from Endurance. Most players are well aware that you can lose a ton more health than that while waiting, so the verdict is clear. WINNER: HEEL ---- (Face)]] (Heel)]] Did you know that Tao auditioned for the part of Maui in Disney's Moana? The producers were really favoring him for a while since he was already animated, so they would save a bundle on animator production costs... sadly as he took a deep breath to start his performance, he accidentally choked on his necklace and had to sit out while his larynx recuperated. What? You wanted to know about his face or heel? Well, his face has Catcher and Crowd Slayer while his heel has Taunt and Thick Skin. Due to his terrible range (like Loglobber) you would think to tank with him, but his stats aren't quite setup for that either as his attack rates higher than his health, but not in a great way. He's basically poorly designed to really stand out in any area. If you held a gun to my head, I'd have to say go with Crowd Slayer, since his higher attack with the buff can clear out opponents well as long as you're able to hook a toe truck to his belt and pull him around the ring... or use a teammate with Boost or Slingshot to help him around for effectiveness. WINNER: FACE ---- SUPERSTARS In a perfect world, there would be a money tree planted in your backyard, your farts would smell like roses, and you would be able to pick the alignment of the Wild Superstar you draft... but alas, such things are but fleeting fairie tales. When you draft a Superstar, they already come precooked and ready to serve, so face or heel, you get whatcha get. ---- (Face)]] (Heel)]] Thundering right outta the gate, beating his chest madly and howling at the moon is the undisputed King of the Wild, Samson! There are few wrestlers lusted after as much as this behemoth, BUT the player prayers are almost always leaning heel. It would seem this choice has already been made time and time again by The Muscle Hustle Community, so I guess we can just stop right here. Or, MAY-BE we should take a closer look just to see if the conventional wisdom is correct. Samson is a beast any way you slice him, but his face has Trash Talk, Thick Skin, and Crate Breaker while his heel has Combo Bump, Crowd Slayer, and Bully. Because his stats boast an excellent attack strength, it's easy to see the heel damage he gives in many different situations can become WILD (yeah, I went there). Not only does he have Combo Bump, but this is coupled with either Crowd Slayer for an extra bonus against groups or Bully to take care of the pesky lightweights that always seem so very hard to pin down long enough to deal good damage. But wait, there's more! What happens when you get a group of 4 opponents who are ALSO lightweights? SHEER PANDEMONIUM! Samson has poor range, but makes up for it with loads of pumped destruction. Although, what about his face? It's hairy... REAL hairy. Other than that Thick Skin is a solid ability, but he doesn't have the health to make it special, Trash Talk is nice for doing Boss battles in solo matches (not much else), and Crate Breaker is a great way to make kids cheer at a birthday party. The people have spoken, and they have spoken truth! WINNER: HEEL ---- (Face)]] (Heel)]] The final champion of our tour, a venemous vixen cunning and sly, she'll claw at your eyes then take to the sky, what she'll do next is difficult to say, it depends on what direction she sways. Her face has Taunt, Intimidator, and Healer, while her heel has Catcher, Healing Prevention, and Underdog. (Yeah, the rhyming thing got old fast. If you want more, go read some Dr. Seuss. We're here to talk about wrastlin'!) The Serpent can often be an underrated Superstar. Her health and attack are both well represented in her stats thus making her relatively resilient and able to pack a punch. Picking between her ability packs can be tough, but in this case we have to go with the alignment that has the most to offer. Taunt and Healer tend to be good abilities on paper, but never quite payoff in practical usage as they are overshadowed by much more useful and effective abilities... such as what we see on heel. Catcher and Heal Prevention can be excellent abilities to have in both PvE and PvP matches to really take down ANY form of healing taking place on the opposing team. Mix that with a buff against heavyweights (which are always lumbering around the meta), and we've seen all we need to see. WINNER: HEEL ---- And so my friends, we've finally wrapped up our deep analysis into the face or heel debate through all five roles in The Muscle Hustle. As always, feel free to shout and rant about everything I got wrong in the comments below, because these are just my opinions and could be WAY the hell off, but I welcome anybody who can bring the noise and drop the knowledge at my doorstep. Bring it! Now, it's time for the BIG FINISH. This is where we let our hair down, pick up the scissors and run with them into the halls of glory. Let's butter some saltines, slice some mild brie, break out the skim milk.. aww hell, let's get completely mad and go 1%. I mean you only live once, right? And kick it old school for the grand finale: I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two wrestlers diverged in a ring, and I- I took the one I rated high, And that has made all the difference. Category:Blog posts